European Union Press Release

– The hackathon in April will be the third of its kind organized in India through the India-EU ICT Standardisation Collaboration Project

– Participants with the most creative solutions will win the chance to attend a start-up event in Europe

The European Union, in partnership with Pune Smart City, is organizing a national-level smart city developer’s tutorial and hackathon on 15 and 16 April at the College of Engineering, Pune. Project stakeholders include the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, the Telecommunications Standard Development Society of India, oneM2M, LAAS CNRS (France), and the European Commission.

The initiative will be the third of its kind under the auspices of the project “India-EU Cooperation on ICT-Related Standardisation, Policy and Legislation”, the aim of which is to promote closer alignment between India and Europe in the production and use of ICT standards, and to harmonise the exchange of statistical data, thereby facilitating trade, increasing interoperability and the ease of doing business.

Through the developer’s tutorial and hackathon, selected students from all over the country will learn how to develop smart city applications, which are standards-compliant and give their solutions a global reach. Pune Smart City will provide students access to current smart city challenges to see how they can be tackled. Students will be provided mentorship and technical assistance from project stakeholders. The team with the most creative solutions will win a fully-funded trip to Europe to visit a start-up. Prior to the hackathon in Pune, a developer’s tutorial will also be held at IIT Guwahati on 13 April.

Mr. Rajendra Jagtap, CEO, Pune Smart City said “ Pune Smart City is extremely pleased to be the first smart city in the country to partner India-EU ICT Standards Collaboration Project, College of Engineering, Pune and the important stakeholders for this unique and first of its kind initiative in Pune. It further builds upon our earlier efforts to foster a culture of innovation through our subsidiary, Pune Idea Factory Foundation (PIFF).”

Commenting on the developments, Mr. Manojit Bose, Chief Knowledge Officer of Pune Smart City said “As Smart Cities transition from technology focused projects to data led technology programs, compliance to standards and interoperability become extremely critical for sustainability and subsequent scale up. Given the complex technology landscape in a Smart City, we are extremely pleased to be a part of this collaborative effort with some of the leading institutions within the country and globally to crowd source creative ideas and solutions from students and young adults. “

Benoit Sauveroche from the EU Delegation to India reiterated the EU’s commitment to working with India on smart city solutions. “We’re excited to launch the third edition of Hackathon under the auspices of the India-EU ICT Standardisation project in Guwahati and Pune. Our first two editions, which took place in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, were hugely popular, and we believe we’ll see the same success here. All participants will get the opportunity to showcase their skills and creativity, and apply standards that will make future applications interoperable when they are deployed in smart cities. Hackathon winners will have the unique opportunity of travelling to Europe and attending a start-up event, where they will be able to develop contacts and nurture their entrepreneurial spirit.”

The EU, which consists of 28 countries, has the world’s largest economy and its third largest population, after China and India. Though richly diverse, the countries that make up the EU (its ‘Member States’) are all committed to the same basic values: peace, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. They have set up common institutions so that decisions on matters of joint interest can be made democratically at European level. By creating a frontier-free single market and a single currency (the euro) which has been adopted by 19 Member States, the EU has given a significant boost to trade and employment.

EU-India relations:

For over 57 years the EU and India have worked together to reduce poverty, prevent disasters, expand trade, and promote joint research in energy, health, agriculture and many other fields of mutual interest. The EU is India’s largest trading partner and the second largest investor in India, besides being the primary destination for Indian foreign investment. The EU unveiled a new Strategy on India in November 2018 which aims to further strengthen the Strategic Partnership by focusing on common responses to global and regional issues and on four focus areas: Sustainable modernisation, Climate Change, Trade and Investment, and Innovation. More information at: http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/india

Detlef Herrmann

Alok Chaudhary

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